1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a telephone set possessing an automatic answering function known as an automatic answering telephone set.
2. Description of the Related Art
An automatic answering telephone set is an apparatus for sending out an answering message automatically when no one is not available at the telephone at the called side, and recording the message of the caller in a magnetic tape, a voice memory or other storage device, and playing back the message later.
Hitherto, in a general automatic answering telephone set, when reproducing the recorded message, all data are reproduced. The recorded data may sometimes include already known information or information of no interest, and that is a waste of time to hear all message if not necessary for the user. Even if the message is necessary, when a silent section is long, the reproduction time becomes larger for that duration.
The telephone sets saving waste of reproduction time in such conventional automatic answering telephone sets have been disclosed in the following publications. A first telephone set is a telephone set disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JPA 3-186045 (1991). In this telephone set, a clearing signal portion present between a message and the next message is stored when recording, and the clearing signal is skipped when reproducing, thereby shortening the reproduction time.
A second telephone set is a telephone set disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JPA 3-192946 (1991). In this telephone set, a set of ID number and pointer value showing the stored position is stored in every case of messages to be recorded, and a specific recorded message can be selected and reproduced by manipulating a button corresponding to a desired ID number.
In the first telephone, since the clearing signal portion is skipped, and the reproduction time is shortened, but the silent portion in the recorded message is normally reproduced, and the useless time is spent. In the second telephone set, by selecting a desired recorded message to reproduce, undesired messages are not, and the reproduction time is shortened, but the silent portion in the selected message is normally reproduced, which is also a waste of time.
A telephone set capable of saving waste of reproduction time by reproducing the silent portion in such telephone sets is disclosed as a third telephone set in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JPA 2-246655 (1990). In this telephone set, digitized voice signal data are not directly recorded, but they are recorded in a storage device after being stored once in a buffer memory. When the data are below a predetermined silence level, the data stored in the buffer memory are discarded, and the silent portion is cut off.
In the third telephone set, since the silent portions of the message are cut off by force, and it may be hard to hear the message.